15-foot bubble chamber, Fermilab, Illinois, 2006; photo by Stanley Greenberg.

An Illustrated Lecture with photographer and author Stanley Greenberg
Date: Thursday, May 3rd
Time: 7:30
Admission: $5
Presented by Atlas Obscura

Stanley Greenberg has long been hailed as a photographer of New York’s hidden spaces. From a vault beneath the Brooklyn Bridge once used for Champagne storage, to a nuclear-blast-resistant water tunnel under the Bronx, Greenberg’s work reveals a city unseen.

His most recent book has taken him to some of the most remote and far flung destinations in the world. Time Machines is a photographic study of large-scale physics projects, featuring the telescopes, particle accelerators, spectrometers, ion traps, and LIDAR installations the make up the physical structures of big science. Hidden by both geography and access, the book reveals a world seen by few. To find the sites in this book, Greenberg traveled over 80,000 miles, by plane, bus, train, car and on foot., went deep underground, high up in the mountains, and to the southernmost point on the earth. The result is a stunning and beautiful examination of the scientific infrastructure of the world.

The first of the “Atlas Obscura Speakers” series of talks, come hear Stanley talk about this most recent projects and show work from his new book Time Machines.

Stanley Greenberg is the author of “Invisible New York”, “Waterworks”, “Architecture Under Construction”, and “Time Machines.”  He has received grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Graham Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2005. Greenberg’s work has been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. For more go to stanleygreenberg.org and buttonagreement.blogspot.com

Photo: © Dr. Paul Koudounaris, from his book The Empire of Death

Lecture and book signing with Dr. Paul Koudounaris, author of The Empire of Death
Date: Thursday, October 13
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $5
Presented by Morbid Anatomy and Atlas Obscura
** Books will be available for sale and signing

For five years, Dr. Paul Koudounaris has traveled the world to document a largely overlooked history: the decoration of religious shrines with human bones and remains in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. His newly published book The Empire of Death (Thames and Hudson) presents a collection of Koudounaris’ photographs and texts chronicling these incredible sites, many of which are not open to the public and have never before been photographed.

The research for this unique book took the author to over 70 preserved charnel houses and skeletal shrines on four continents to document the once common use of human remains for the veneration of the dead in Christian culture. Among other tribulations, in the course of completing his research, the author was pursued by malevolent spirits, handcuffed to a table in a striptease bar by a prurient monk, forced to undergo a religious pilgrimage and exorcism, and arrested by the Austrian police.

Tonight, join Dr. Koudounarishis for an illustrated talk in which he will provide historical insights into the sites and people who created these marvelous objects and spaces, a discussion of the veneration of the dead in Christian culture, and fantastical travel anecdotes, all illustrated by his breathtaking photographs of these unforgettable artifacts.

Paul Koudounaris received a PhD in Art History from UCLA in 2006, which a specialty in the Baroque. He has taught at major universities in the Los Angeles area, and has written for dozens of magazines and newspapers in several countries, specializing in articles about veneration of the dead.